Composer Philip Glass turned 75 on Jan.
31. The party continues this weekend in Cincinnati, starting with the
wildly innovative, Grammy Award-winning sextet eighth blackbird’s
appearance at MusicNOW on Thursday. Glass himself will join 8bb during
the first half of the performance.

The new year for Chamber music opens with strings. And flutes. And clarinets, prepared piano, flexatones, harmonicas, bongos and cowbells. That's standard operating procedure for eighth blackbird, the wildly innovative sextet acclaimed as the country's premier contemporary music ensemble (performing Jan. 12 at CCM). Acknowledges flautist Tim Munro, "We like to wreak havoc in a creative way."